My Daughter Is 6 and Doctors Keep Telling Me She Is Fine

I would push to see a specialist. I know I wouldn't leave it at that. You know something is wrong so push to have it looked into. Sometimes you have to get testy with doctors who blow you off. You justtell them you aren't leaving the office without a referral in hand.

She is constipated. There is nothing wrong with her body, if that's what they mean. There may be something "wrong" with her diet. Does she drink plenty of liquids. Are you giving her high fiber foods and avoiding dairy products? Does she sit on the toilet everyday and wait at least 10-15 minutes to see if she has a movement?

I suggest that a change in diet and forming a toilet ritual might help. Use a stool softener, NOT a laxative, to help her get started in a routine. Have her keep taking it for as long as it takes for her to have regular bowel movements. It could take a month or two because her body is now used to being constipated.

If she's been taking laxatives her body may be depending on the laxative. It's best to not take laxatives. It could be she's actually taken stool softeners and that is OK. Stool softeners draw water into the bowel to make the feces soft. A laxative works on the nerves to cause the bowel to be more active.

My grandson was chronically constipated. It takes time and experimenting to find the right combination to provide relief. I'd trust that the doctor is right when he says there's nothing wrong with her body. Doctors have very little training in diet and nutrition. Try approaching her constipation thru diet. Give her plenty of liquids and fiber.

i would go talk to a dietian and see what they have to say about foods to eat and foods to avoid. The best thing you can do is changing diet and see what can help her. But when you change the diet, you have to makes the changes for about 2 weeks, to clean the body out of things, and let the new diet work.

you could try going on a gluten free diet and see if that helps. I have heard MANY wonderful things about going gluten free. I know for my nephew it's like night and day difference. When he is at his mom's he eats whatever he wants, and when at his dad's they go gluten free, and after a few days there, he is a COMPLETELY different person.

My daughter has struggled with constipation for 3 and 1/2 years, from just before she turned 7 to 10 and 1/2 years old. It's so frustrating, so I understand how difficult this is for you. She's doing really well now and we're tapering off the Miralax (we've used several other meds over the years, but she's just on a relatively low dose of Miralax at this point). Based on our long experience, I would suggest the following:
1. Go to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist, if you haven't already. If you have, maybe you should try starting fresh with another one. Pediatricians are wonderful, but they're not specialists in this area. Adult Gastroenterologists don't necessary understand little systems as well. CHOP is where we go, and they have a good program. Ask the doctor to order a KUB series, which is X-rays (usually lying down and standing up) of the bowel area. They can tell on the X-ray how much poop is in her body, and where exactly it is and also look for any structural problems or blockages. He/she may not want to order the X-ray right away, until you've done a behavioral program, but it can be really helpful, if only to rule out bigger issues.
2. Keep good records. A doctor may not initially really understand how much fiber your child is eating and how rarely she is pooping unless you can show that you've been writing it down. Keep track of when she hurts (before pooping, after meals, at night, in the morning?) and what helps. And ALWAYS be consistent with the medication. If they tell you to give a 1/2 cap of Miralax twice a day, for example, do EXACTLY that much EVERY day, as close to the same times as possible. It can be really hard, especially with sleepovers and sports and everything else, but it's so important.
3. Be patient. It made me insane that my daughter was on daily meds and I was so frustrated for so long. The doctors told me I could play with the doses if it seemed appropriate so I used to try to taper her off when she was doing well and I realize now that by messing around with the meds I just made the problem come right back. According to our Gastroenterologist, it's really common for kids to need years to get over this. The softeners (like Miralax) don't contain any real meds and don't cause any harm. As your daughter gets older, her system will mature and she'll learn to respond to her own body's cues better and she'll get beyond it (as my daughter is doing). The specialist told us in the beginning that kids aged 5-8 or so tend to have the worst problems b/c their natural rhythms get changed by being in school (where they don't want to go) and they don't have the skills yet to follow what their bodies are trying to tell them.

Good luck!!

I agree that a specialist would probably give you the best answers. If you can, get her in to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. They specialize in children's digestive tracts, and they've seen everything.

Good luck, I hope you get to the bottom of your little girl's problem.

Doctors do NOT know everything. Moms I believe have that sixth sense when it comes to our children. You know if something is not right. Go with your insticts. Maybe go to a dr that deals with food allergies?? or stomach issues??

Wow. Looking at all of the answers on here made me shudder. You must be feeling SO overwhelmed. We went through the same thing and after a long time we found that she a ring of overtight muscle around her intestine that was causing a partial obstruction. What I am hearing here is everybody convinced they know what is right and some of this advice directly contradicts other advice. None of us, no matter what we went through ourselves or with our kids, know what is wrong with YOUR child. And the only person, really, who can figure that out is you and your child.

Clearly there are many avenues to investigate. And also pretty clear is that this can be a long term issue. Trust yourself. Trust her. At 6 she can report to you and you can talk about if it may be withholding or a combination. Our DD learned to withhold due to the other issue and both needed to be addressed. I personally, don't think there is a miracle cure for this issue. I didn't find ONE thing that worked, it was a combination, patience, time, advocating for my daughter, and lots and lots of patience!!

Be kind to yourself and gentle with her. Be firm with every one else! For most of us this is something we get through. You and she will too. Best wishes!

take her to see a gastrologist they should be able to tell you what is going on with her..good luck we are going to the gastro doc on friday with our son who complains of a tummy ache all the time

kathy had great advice.

to be clear, constipation is not the frequency. constipation is really defined as hard balls. when i am pregnant, i am always constipated, i go everyday, but it is constipated. does that make sense? the problem arises that a child has one painful bowel movement, the subconsciously avoids going again as long as possible to avoid the pain. but the longer it sits in there, the more moisture is taken out and the harder(and more painful) it becomes. once you get in this cycle, it becomes habit, and not something the child is making a choice about. you would have to actually teach a new thought process about this body function. the reason the pain continues after she goes is that if she holds her bowels for 1-2 weeks, when she does go, she is not pooping 1-2 weeks of food at once!!! so she gets out some, but there is still the hard bowels from a few days ago sitting there. you have to have it so there is regular movement and never allow bowels to be getting hard in her intestinal tract.

i would also say having a problem myself after having my 2nd child, softeners didnt work for me AT ALL. laxatives are NOT for this type of problem, so i would not continue them for these ongoing issues. i would ask your doctor about metamucil. that is what finally fixed the problem, but not until at least a week of using it. fiber is the only thing that can help someone be regular, not softeners or laxatives. ask your doctors about metamucil for her age, and focus on blackberries and blueberries esp, nonstop fruit and veggies. keep the skins on everything. look up fiber content, somethings have significantly more or less than others- even things you would have thought would be a good choice. dont eat anything else but fiber filled foods for a few days(no bananas, crackers, pretzels, meat). if she takes the metamucil and eats only this, and still has a problem, i would be concerned. and from my experience, if you go to a GE specialist, they will make this recommendation before doing anything intrusive. good luck.

Ask the doctor to refer you to a dietician who can teach you the foods that will help with this issue and also the ones to limit or avoid. I Would not use laxatives, unless prescribed by the physician...his body can become dependant upon the laxatives and it can actually make the issue worse. Stool softners are the way to go, in my opion, but they are useless unless he drinks lots and lots and LOTS of water!!! The stool softner does its' work by drawing fluid to the bowels to make the feces softer and easier to pass through the intestines. If there isn't a lot of water available in his system, then it can't do its' work.
Get her active...losts of exercise and things to do..it might get her metabolism rate up and help things move along the digestive tract faster.

Hi J.---You've gotten many ideas on some short term interventions, but you really need to get to the bottom of the problem. One of my concerns would be the length of time the waste is in the intestines. When it sits in there, it has time to reabsorb the toxins the body is trying to excrete.

I just attended a health talk last night where the nurse, who is also a Naturopath and a has a doctorate in Nutritional Counseling, talked a lot about 'elimination'. Transit time for a normal functioning bowel is about 12-22 hours but, of course, doesn't happen that way for most people.

It could be that there is a mechanical problem with the intestines. That should be ruled out. But most likely, it is a matter of diet and lifestyle. Please understand that I am not suggesting that your diet and lifestyle are poor, but rather, it may not be good enough to help alleviate this problem. A proper functioning gut is vital to good health.

Reduce animal protein consumption and ELIMINATE cows milk. Cows milk is extremely constipating, more for some and not for others, and it also is a risk factor for type 1 diabetes, many types of allergies and prostate cancer. Please read these resources to learn more: www.pcrm.org, www.strongbones.org and www.notmilk.com. Also, a really, really good book on dietary habits and disease rates is The China Study by T Colin Campbell. Meat contains no fiber at all, very few nutrients and mostly saturated fat, calories and cholesterol. It slows digestion rates.

You should be eating mostly fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, about 90% of your daily calorie intake. Make as much of that raw as possible. Have you ever tried raw beets? They are delicious. Grate them and put them on a salad. Kale is also a hugely nutritious green. It is very 'chewy' but works well in soups or stews and also is fine when chopped fine and put in salads. Avoid lots of added sugar. Use ground flax seeds on cereal, in smoothies, pancakes and other baked goods. Flax is a superfood. Lots of fiber, protein, omega 3 fats, vitamins, minerals and cancer preventive lignans.

I would also reduce or eliminate use of packaged and prepared foods. These foods are not really food, but rather food products. They lack the fiber and nutrients necessary for good health. The also contain lots of chemical additives that could very well interfere with many healthy body processes.

I am taking a series of wellness classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. So I have lots of resources I would be happy to share if you'd like to explore any of the topics I've touched on. Keep working with your daughter in a loving and caring way. But at 6, she should be able to understand that she needs to learn to take control of this problem. If she's a picky eater, than she needs to eat differently to help her to poop more easily. Maybe teach her how to 'hee-hee-who' while she's having a bowel movement. Anyone who's had a baby knows how to 'breathe' like that. Help her to learn how to fix her thoughts on something other than the discomfort she is experiencing. You will also likely need to retrain her bowels. I work with a nurse who talks about doing this. She teaches in terms of a food based supplement that helps to regain regularity, but I think it would work with regular food as well. Have a couple of serving of fruit with breakfast, 2-3 servings of veggies at lunch and dinner, then some more fruit before bedtime. Sound like a lot but it's not really. We are supposed to have 7-13 servings each day. Granted, kids would simply have smaller servings than adults. I have charts that tell what kids of different ages should have. Do try to have as many different kinds of fruit and veg as possible and strive to have different colors of the rainbow as well. Colors are nutrients and a wide variety is healthiest.

So, easy answers? Not likely. It will take patience and a desire on her part to make things different. I hope this helps in some small way. I am open to you contacting me with more questions, if you'd like. It would be my honor to help. I hate seeing people suffer with health issues when there are some simple solutions. Take care and good luck. D.

Something that runs in my family, that isn't caught without *very* expensive testing or surgery... is that about 1:4 of us are born with nearly adult sized intestines. Which creates a big problem, because 1) it takes quite a bit to fill those intestines up enough to register as needing to go and 2) we have kid sized rectums.

The only "cure" is time, because as we grow, our intestines stay about the same, so by 7/8 we're on the road, and by 10/11 we're absolutely fine.

What does make it worse are all the "standard" cures for constipation. Fiber, oy vey, fiber is PAINFUL... prunes, laxitives, all make the problem *worse*. Because we're not actually constipated, but those things can MAKE us constipated and cause gas and cramping that lasts for weeks after the last "dose"/"serving". My mum would force feed me fiber and I'd be in pain for days. And milk of magnesia made me want to vomit. And don't even get me started on enemas and other forms of torture. Truth is, it is NOT normal constipation... it wasn't that I needed to but couldn't... it was that I didn't need to yet. Then, when I actually DID need to go, my mum had made the entire experience SO traumatic, my adrenalin would kick in (which shuts off the digestion response... actually disconnecting the nerves from conscious control) and until she sat me on the toilet and slapped and slapped and slapped me screaming at me that the doctors were going to slice me open and cut it out of me and of course more slapping and screaming and my adrenalin went from "shut off" to data dump OR she shoved enough drugs in me that I couldn't hold it (think just prior to surgery drugs) OR (heaven, and angels singing) if the need struck at school where I could go in PEACE, I'd just poop in secret. Of course, that made the problem at home worse, because it made it seem like even longer. Oy, ick, bad memories. YEARS of bad memories.

My son inherited this gene from me, so I was just patient with him (I seriously hated my mother for years how involved she was with my poo). Held him, rocked him, told him how brave he was because he really WAS being brave (imagine feeling like you're giving birth each and every time you had to poo), CHOOSING to do so it not an easy choice. Not when you know you can put it off for a few more days. When he was tiny I would often hold him as cried for over an hour while he worked himself up to being "ready". Now, at 8, he's kind of thrilled at how "easy" it is (but he still has poops that would make a grown man proud, it's all a matter of perspective... i remember when things got "easy" for the first time).

One trick I figured out for HIM is a little vaseline (my mum may have used it from time to time, but she was always shoving things up my bum, so lord only knows). And of course, avoiding things that pile poop and gas in faster (creates mega cramps that last for weeks, metamucil I used to actually HIDE, and was convinced was some kind of poison she was trying to do me in with... and brown bread... ugh. I was 10 years living on my own before I had brown bread again, and was kind of shocked it didn't hurt the way it used to.

To also know, as an adult I only go once a week or so. I have an efficient digestive system... it just uses up most of what I eat. Come to find that's pretty normal. FREAKS the "once a day" crowd out... but a LOT of people are once-a-week'ers.

I started taking a probiotic pill the other day for constipation. I am noticing a difference... They weren't that expensive at GNC. Good luck! I know that's no fun...

Make sure she is eating a lot of fruits and veggies. Give her the omega three pills with fish oil,flax seed oil and olive oil. It is pill form and is soft, should be easy to swallow. That should help clear her out. Give her also some dried prunes or apricots, apple juice,prune juice that will help also. No white bread,wheat bread. Good luck

I have a similar issue and have always had it for as long as I can remember. Have her drink apple juice; make sure it's 100% juice, Indian Summer is a good brand. Give her lots of whole grain (pasta, bread), try giving her raisins or plums. Good luck.

Wow, have not read all the responses but the person who saw Mystery Diagnosis, the disease was called Hirschsprungs. My son was tested for that as an infant. Usually it is discovered in babies but once in a while, the child's symptoms slip through until they are a little older.
Good Luck.
S.

Take her COMPLETELY off dairy and give her epsom salt baths or Natural Calm. She needs the magnesium. If the dairy doesn't do that trick after 2-3 weeks, go down the line with removing gluten, soy, etc.

Reminds me of an episode of Mystery Diagnosis on Discovery Health. Of course I can't remember the name of the diagnosis, but basically it was that part of the GI tract was either under developed or not functioning correctly. I also recall that many tests were done that didn't reveal anything because they were focusing on either the upper or lower tract, but not the right one. So I would advise you to listen to your own instincts and get further specialized treatment. Be your daughter's advocate. She shouldn't have to live in pain.
Best of luck!

Have you seen a behavior therapist? My daughter was constipated since a baby...we did the rounds of milk of magnesium, miralax, diet and behavior therapist. It seems weird I know but it helped! She was on miralax daily for about 7 years, everytime we tried weaning her off she'd have problems again. With the behavior therapist we had to chart her liquid intake, activity, bm's, "sit times" -withing 1/2 hour after meals she would sit on toilet for 10 minutes to trian body to go-..it was a long process but worked!

What worked for us was a combination of things - removal of gluten from the diet, digestive enzymes and natural treatment for candida (yeast - in the gut). We also had success with magnesium supplements (starting at a VERY low dosage) and epsom salt baths (also magnesium).

Our peds were very little help on this issue - we made much better progress with knowledge gained from an integrative physician and a nutritionist. Other parents' experience may be different - this was just ours. You may want to seek out multiple sources of information from qualified professionals.

Chronic poop problems are an extremely frustrating (and physically difficult) thing for a child - my heart goes out to your daughter. Wishing her lots of health and wellness.

I feel the same way. I just posted on her maybe my daughter has a gluten sensitivity...you might want to google that and read it. It's pretty interesting actually. I also think my daughter has ADHD because she can't sit down and concentrate and doesn't pay attention well but actually I think it's linked to the gluten also. My daughter has had poopy problems since she was 6 mos old and we finally put her on myralax at 1 yrs old because of my dr. and she was on that for over a 1 yr and a half and she complained about her tummy hurting all the time but it made her poop regularly finally I took her off because even though my dr. said it was fine to keep taking I just felt like it wasn't normal to take this for years everyday. I finally could reason with her and tell her she had to eat sweet potatoes every day for her to poop and not eat medicine and she undertstood and did it. It worked for her and she ate it everyday for over a year but she still had hard poops but they were regular. She may have a casein allergy or soy or gluten, those are more common than you think and lots of kids go untreated.

Also, I have twins and my dr. would always say it has to be her diet that I am not feeding her enough fiber but the fiber doesn't make her belly hurt all the time plus my other daughter never has tummy aches and poops just fine and has never been constipated since she was born and has eaten the exact samething as her sister. I wish you luck and the more information you have the better, I hope you figure it out!!

wow, there are a lot of medical responses here. you are the mom, if your gut tells you that something is wrong, you need to see another doctor. your post didnt mention if you have seen another doc. i would bring her to a pediatric gastroenterologist. best of luck.

Try magnesium citrate 600-800 mg and P-5-P (b-6) 50mg, at bedtime. By morning she should have to go, it might scare her b/c it'll be a bit softer, and if it's too soft cut back by about 200mg. You can get them at health food stores like Vitamin Shoppe. It might take a while to start working, but it should help. She's probably losted the "urge" to go, meaning she feels full and crampy, but doesn't have the feeling most poeple do when they have to go. Do some reasearch on your own, and don't let the docs tell you she's fine.

My daughter is 7 and has been constipated all of her life. I give her Benefiber in drinks (anything water, milk, juice) and it works great! I know what you mean by pain. When she was little she would be playing and then all of a sudden stop dead in her tracks and start crying. We always knew what it was. Cheese is the biggest problem that my daughter has. She loves it but it is very constipating. The Benefiber works better than anything else I have tried. She is really small for her age and although she use to be a horrible picky eater, she has gotten better. Since she is so small I hate to limit foods, especially dairy since it's good for growing bodies, so the Benefiber allows her to eat what she loves. The Benefiber will not only help her to be regular it will help so that it doesn't hurt to go anymore. I buy the big bottle at Costco and put it in pancake mix, spag sauce, (it's good for the whole family) and then she will get some in her water, milk when she goes even one day without pooping. I highly recommend trying it! Oh and the benefiber has no taste whatsoever so even in water she can't taste it.

Has she seen a pediatric gastro doctor? Maybe there is more to the problem.

God bless!

In India we grew up with this very effective (yet super bitter tasting) ayurvedic/ herbal remedy for constipation called "Triphala" and "Haritaki". It helps with digestion, constipation and cleansing the system. Please ask the pediatrician/ nutritionist about this or look it up online.

Also, if her tummy hurts all the time, please ask your doctor to rule out appendicitis.

I am certain you've tried to change your little one's diet. Do continue to include lots of fiber-rich foods such as raw vegetables, fruits and salads, limit rice, flour and bread items.

Finally, please check with your doctor and see if it's ok to give her some coffee. It sometimes has a laxative effect on people, however I don't want her to be hyper from the caffeine.

A mother's instincts are seldom wrong. Good luck and hope everything works out fine.

I would have them do an ultrasound or something to see if there is anything wrong with her intestines.

I can only tell you our experience. One of my triplets has this problem. He's about to turn 6. We've known for years that he's been withholding. He had painful poops since he was a toddler and would go every 1-2 weeks as well. Of course it was going to hurt if he's holding it in for that long. He's unconsiously thinking it's going to hurt every time he would poop so he'd be holding it in. And because he would hold it in it would become harder and more compact, so then it would hurt. A vicious cycle.

We tried Murilax for a while and seemed to help but not for long. He started leaking around the mass of poop and would be a daily mess until he finally pooped.

I have taken him to the doctor many times concerning this and there's not much they can do if the child is withholding, which is what's happening with your daughter, I'm sure. We even tried adding powder fiber to his milk.

So I recently did some research because he was going to start kindergarten and still didn't know how to wipe his bottom with the popping problem. My SIL found a site that helped. It does take time but we had to do a diet change. He was getting a cup of milk with each meal. We changed that to twice a day, for breakfast and for dinner. For lunch and 2 snacks he gets staight apple juice. (try the fruit/veggie blends too) He now eats mainly fruits and veggies with plenty of grains. We're a heavy meat eating society so I looked at the amount of protein he was getting and it was actually too much compared to how much he eats, which he's a light eater, picky. So with half a sandwich at lunch (with protein peanut butter) he gets a bunch of peaches on the side or half an apple. Every dinner the main course is veggies (dip 'em, spice 'em), whatever his fave is like sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, etc. I've stopped the traditional sandwich sides of no pretzels, tortilla chips, etc. I didn't think it was working but after a couple weeks he's starting to go every 3 days or so. Still not the best but better. They are still massive around, larger than any grown man, but at least they're not rock hard like clay. They're soft now. So it is progress.

We made an agreement with him that if we change his diet his part is that he will eat everything on his plate and drink everything in his cup. Just eating less wasn't going to help. He needed to eat better and it does take time! I also have to praise him highly and coax him to poop and talk about all the good things that will happen when he does.

Withholding is usually the main culprit and of course it's going to hurt coming out. If I had 1-2 weeks of food clogging my drain I would be in some real pain. So a lot of it is on her as well to relax and finally let it come. I tell my son, "You did great! Doesn't it feel SO much better when it comes out? Just let it go and wow, don't we feel better!"

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Hi, J.:
Get some Hyland Vit. C tabs. 5 mg.
Adjust the dosage for her needs to poop
everyday.
Go to the local health food store.
If you can't find it, call The Heritage Store in Virginia Beach, VA

Good luck.
D.